


A Violet Blaze by the Black Arts

by britta885



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura (Voltron)-centric, Allura being developed more as a character, Blood and Gore, Druids, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Flashbacks, Galra Keith (Voltron), Galra Reveal Scene, Homesick Lance (Voltron), Horror, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, M/M, Magic, Magic Revealed, Multi, Nightmares, Not Beta Read, Other, POV Keith (Voltron), Post-Canon, Sad Keith (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2018-10-14 11:48:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10535850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/britta885/pseuds/britta885
Summary: After Shiro's disappearance, the team has been on edge with each other. No one wants to address the possibility that he might be... gone. So, the team keeps working as hard as they can, trying to forget what happened.Until one mission rocks everyone's world and forces them to deal with all the emotions that have been building up.





	1. Oppdraget

It was suppose to be a simple recon and intelligence mission, with a goal in mind to learn more about the Galra’s new way of processing quintessence. With Shiro still being MIA, the team had to make adjustments to how they dealt with missions, though they did have more support from the Blades after the presumably successful teludav mission. 

But, the “simple” mission turned out to be much more challenging and arduous due to the unexpected presence of a certain high ranking member of the Empire. 

“Haggar is here?” Allura hissed, turning to face Hunk and Pidge, who were busy reprogramming one of the drones. Both stopped their work, which would allow them to monitor the facility remotely and undetected, after seeing the concern on Allura’s face.  
“Well, I think it’s Haggar, I’m not really certain, but there are a bunch of druids here, and there seems to be a clear leader with them,” Lance replied, hiding in one of the rafters, looking down on the group of druids that had just passed.  
“Alright, follow her and see if you can find out what she’s planning,” Allura instructed him, nodding at Hunk and Pidge to continue their work.  
“Got it,” Lance added before his radio went silent.

“Pidge, Hunk, how are things proceeding?”  
“Well, not too bad, I’d say, our program is working well and we haven’t had any problems with it yet. I’ve checked with Coran and he has been getting our uploads, so everything is working well,” Pidge said, looking over at the computer.  
“Yeah, so I grabbed a few robo-guards from the hallway to make sure our other program is working, so far, so good. I’ve been able to use this guy,” Hunk patted the robo-guard on the shoulder, who was slumped against the wall, “to track the other guards, so we don’t have that problem anymore.”  
“Excellent,” Allura said, though something in the back of her mind made her uneasy. But, why jinx something that was going well? So she ignored the feeling and continued with her checklist. 

“Keith, how is everything with the Blades?”  
The Blades of Marmora were now working closely with the team, teaching Keith more about the history of the Blades, in hopes of learning more about his parents. Two Blades had accompanied them on this mission, providing auxiliary support and also wishing to gain knowledge about the status of Zarkon. 

“So far, so good,” He replied, as the Blades and he worked their way through the loading area, turning to find what was in the shipments that were coming through this base. They had found this base with the help of the Blades, who believed that there might be a quintessence supply hidden there. With Zarkon out of action also, the team believed that his people would come to the base in order to heal Zarkon after the battle.  
“We haven’t find anything yet, but with Haggar here, that makes me more suspicious,” Keith said, exchanging a look with Korik, the one of the Blades. 

“Indeed, I want everyone to be on alert,” Allura agreed, focusing on what to do if they had to handle Haggar.  
“Lance, Motig, I want both of you to follow Haggar and see where she goes. If there is quintessence here, she is most likely here to collect it for Zarkon.” The team’s assumptions about quintessence were confirmed by Kolivan, who had explained that Zarkon that been using to power himself over the years to become more powerful, that it had made him unnatural in many regards as he constantly had to have a supply to get himself through everyday. 

“Keith, Korik, I want you two to meet up with Lance and Motig, after you meet your informant. Haggar will probably have several guards, so we need to have strength in numbers if something goes wrong and there is a fight,” Allura said, looking out the window of the control room, where she could Haggar’s ship stationed in the dock. After the last battle with Haggar, Allura had become concerned with the effects of Haggar’s magic on her own body. She felt it at times, sitting behind her heart and waiting for the moment to be used. There had been times, in private, of course, where she had summoned this magic in her body and the results had been quite disastrous to say the least; she had burned through one of her night gowns and made several large burns in her room, which had been covered up by furniture.  
Still, Allura pushed these thoughts to the back of her mind and reminded herself that she had to stay strong for the team and the mission. She noted to herself that this mission, besides the presence of the Space Witch, was going rather smoothly; they were undetected in the Green Lion and another space pod, which had been modified by Pidge. The team was working well together, including the two Blades who more talkative than the higher ups and seemed to match the personalities of the Paladin they were assigned. 

After reassuring herself that everything would be fine and the mission was going well, she resumed her checklist, and called to Coran. “Ah, Princess! I have received the upload from Pidge and the program has already started decrypting it. I’ve been monitoring the station, and Haggar is here only with one patrol, not an entire fleet. So, whatever her reason for being her, i don’t think it’s completely official.”  
“Hmm, that is interesting, though it could be that with Zarkon’s injuries, they do not have the resources to spare anymore,” Allura commented, thinking about the possibilities of what this meant for the team and the universe.  
“Sounds like 1 for Team Voltron!” Lance interjected happily, drawing a “1” in the air with his hand. 

Motig chuckled at the joke, smiling underneath his mask even though Lance would not see it, he knew that Lance appreciated his chuckle. Pidge, on the other hand, groaned “Lance, we need to focus.”  
“Hey, I’m focused, I’m pointing out our hard work,” Lance replied, slightly annoyed at Pidge.  
“Lance is right, we need to count all our victories, especially since it was a big won,” Allura said, acknowledging that he was right and appreciative of his upbeat attitude.  
Lance’s jaw dropped from surprise, never imaging that those words would ever come out of Allura’s word, but his face quickly changed as he and Motig followed Haggar, finally reaching her destination. She and her guard had stopped and gone into a room off one of the smaller hallways.

“Pidge, can you find out what’s in that room? We’re on the third floor, southeast wing,” Lance radioed, thinking about what could be in that room.  
“On it... ,” Pidge tracked their location and pulled out the blueprint for the station, “It looks like it’s a maintenance room or something.”  
“That can’t be right, what’s up and below it?”  
“Hmmm, the blueprint don’t show anything in that spot on any of the floors.”  
“Sounds like a hidden room,” Motig added, looking at Lance who nodded.  
“Allura, should we follow and find out?”

Allura paused, thinking about what would happen if they were to engage in a battle with Haggar; she herself had been able to maintain Haggar’s pace of fighting but it had cost the lives of two Blades and Haggar was not completely incapacitated by the end. Still, they had the upperhand to a degree, Haggar was not expecting them to attack, the station was under the control of Hunk and Pidge’s program, and she was only traveling with one Druid guard.  
“Yes, proceed once Keith and Korik reach you. Pidge, Hunk, can one of you close off all the hallways in the area, except for the one Lance and Motig are in?”  
“Sure! Not a problem,” Hunk said, shifting away from the robot and reaching up to the main computer.  
“Keith, have you reached your informant yet?”  
“We just did, I tell about you guys later. Korik and I are en route to Lance, ready to engage.” 

“Alright, I’m coming to join you, Hunk, Pidge, finish up your work and head to the docking bay, destroy all the ships their including Haggar’s, then getting in the Green Lion. We might need assistance if things start to go to awry.”  
Hunk and Pidge nodded, Hunk reassembling the robo-guard and Pidge finishing the upload to Coran. 

Allura ran along the corridors, quickly finding where the other four were and pulling out her staff.

She arrived to the corridor within the minute, pausing to prepare the team and advising a plan for a worst case scenario. When she felt the time had finally come, and that everyone was ready, she looked to all of them asked “Shall we?”  
Both pairs nodded and she kicked down the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The name of this chapter is the Norwegian word for "Mission". I thought it would be kind of funny because of Sven.
> 
>  So this is my first thing ever posted online, I hope you like it. There will be more chapters to come.
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> [my tumblr](http://tenorswift.tumblr.com/)


	2. Dessein

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mission continues and the team has a hard time dealing with Haggar.

“Uh, Allura, I could have opened the door for you,” Pidge said across the radio.  
“Not now,” she hissed. She did not receive a reply as she and the two pairs continued into the side room.  
It could be described as a maintenance closet, though not for the facility but for the robo-guards. Inside of it were extras pieces of armor for the robo-guards and a small table.  
“I thought there was suppose to be something here,” Keith said, looking around the room and trying to find some kind of clue as where to Haggar went.  
“Pidge said that there’s nothing above or below this room on the blueprints, so maybe she used her magic to get into another room,” Lance commented, also joining Keith in looking for clues.  
“But if she used magic to enter the room, then how are we supposed to get in? Or do we wait for them to come out and ambush them?” Korik asked.  
“I might have a solution to that problem,” Allura said hesitantly. None of the team, save Coran, knew about her new abilities, and she was not sure how she was to explain it without them becoming worried. She could almost imagine all their faces filled with worry if she had told them sooner, Shiro’s included which was possibility the painful to think about.  
Nonetheless, she closed her eyes and felt for the energy behind her heart, bringing it out from the shadows and closer to her face and her skin. Once she could feel the tingle on her skin, she raised up a hand and concentrated the energy on her palm, forcing it out and into the room. 

She heard a few gasps when she released the energy and it floated over to a wall, opening it in the process. Looking over at the two Paladins, who both had their mouths open, trying to form questions, she held a hand up and said “Not now, I promise I’ll explain later but we need to keep moving.” 

She nodded at the two Blades and took the lead into the hidden room, which opened into a large chamber with a grand window as the ceiling. The chamber was filled with golden pillars of quintessence, which were systemed into several enormous circles. In the center of the room, there was a raised platform with 

A long stone structure, too long to be an altar but it had too many carvings and decorations to not be something sacred. Around the altar-table, there were small containers of quintessence and other objects that Allura could not identify so far away. 

Beside the altar-table stood two of Haggar’s Druids, both standing at attention and luckily had not notice the presence of the newcomers in the chamber. Allura sighed with relief that they had not seen her and the group, deciding that all the quintessence made it hard for them to distinguish other life forms. 

“What’s the plan?” Keith asked, squatting on his hunches behind her.  
“I have instructed Hunk and Pidge to destroy their ships, as you know, and now I believe the best course of action is wait and see Haggar is doing in this chamber. Does everyone agree with this plan?” She had opened the comm link halfway through her sentence, allowing the other three to hear what has happening.

“I think that’s a great plan, Princess!”  
“Yeah, sounds.”  
“Pidge and I are almost done taking out the ships.” 

She nodded, “Good.” Then she turned to look at the Blades, raising an eyebrow, asking to hear their response.  
“I agree, this plan is well thought out,” Motig said. Korik merely nodded in agreement.  
“Alright, if there is any trouble, I suggest we take out the Druids as fast as possible and try to deal with Haggar afterwards, With enough people, we might be able to overwhelm her,” Allura finished, closing the comm link and facing towards the altar-table, waiting for the long cloak to appear. 

It did not take long before Haggar appeared in the room, with the Druids bowing in presence and taking the items she brought with her and placing on the table. As soon as everything was organized on the altar-table, the Druids stepped back from Haggar, who began some kind of ceremony, it would seem, on the various objects. 

Allura shifted positions, trying to get a better look at what was happening, when she realized that she recognized some of the the objects on the table. 

“How is that possible?” She wondered aloud, thinking about the last time she had seen the objects. They were herbs, powerful herbs from Atlea, that had almost supernatural power. The mere sight of them brought back painful memories, but Allura pushed them away and continued to watch.

Curious about what the Space Witch could be doing with these herbs, Allura gradually crept closer and closer to the altar-table. She was able to observe that Haggar and the Druids were using their magic to enchant the herbs, possibly increasing their properties. As she watched, Allura began to realize the purpose of Haggar and the Druids here; they were trying to create a cure for Zarkon. Allura smiled to herself, thinking about the damage that they had caused to Zarkon and how weak he must be if Haggar was using these herbs. 

Though, her curiosity got the better of her and moved too close to the altar-table and her satisfaction quickly faded as Haggar stiffened and turned around to face her. 

“Princess Allura, what a surprise finding you here……..,” Haggar sneered at her, with eyes filled with delight and thrill.  
“You’ll be a great help with this experiment, especially since you and those Paladins,” she spat the word, “caused all this trouble in the first place.” 

Haggar then reached out her hand towards Allura, then closed it with a flash of light.  
“Now that I know you possess magic, I know how to deal with you. It might have allowed you to have the upper hand in our last encounter, but I assure, this one will be very different.”

Allura could pressure all around her body, push the air out of her lungs and cutting off circulation to her extremities. She could feel herself slipping into unconsciousness, when she heard her teammates rush Haggar and the Druids. Lance shot at Haggar’s hand, relieving the pressure Allura felt and making Haggar hiss in annoyance and pain. 

Haggar pulled back, trying to finish the ceremony and gather the herbs, not at all concerned about the fight happening behind her. 

Allura was helped off the ground by Lance, who checked to make sure that she was okay. After pausing for a moment, Allura pulled out her own weapon and began to help Keith and the Blades fight the Druids. Even though the odds were against the Druids, they were doing well. They fought with ease, coolly dispatching any attack that came their way; as her teammates began to tire from the fight, the Druids still fought with the effectiveness as the beginning as the fight. 

The tiredness she and her teammates started to affect them, as the Druids were able to land hits more easily, hitting Keith in his right shoulder, kicking Motig in the stomach, and hitting Korik square in the face, causing his mask to fade away. 

Lance seemed to be doing the best, as he was able to fight from a better distance and avoid attacks better. He noticed that Haggar was still trying to finish the ceremony while the fight was happening, and called out to Allura. 

“Allura!!! She’s trying to distract us with the fight!!!”  
Allura looked over and saw Haggar, finishing the ceremony without the help of the Druids. She realized that Haggar had played her, cursing herself for her stupidity and refocusing her energy on fighting the space witch. 

She charged towards the altar-table, managing to catch Haggar off guard and throw her to the ground with the staff. Haggar immediately stood up, throwing purple fire towards Allura, which evaded, then moved closer to the space witch, deciding that the less distance between her and the witch was better. As she moved closer, Haggar shot the staff out of her hands, but Allura continued to move closer to her. Allura was fast, fast enough that Haggar was unable to track all the time and she punched the witch right the face, causing her to double over in pain. Breathless from the running and jumping, Allura moved closer to the witch, deciding whether or not she should kick the witch she was down. It was not something that her father would have approved of, but she was not her father and desperate times called for desperate actions.  
But before she could make her decision, Haggar throw something towards, which attached itself to her, sending purple lights and pain all over her body. Allura did her best to stay upright, but her knees which kicked out by Haggar, who had started to examine her. 

“You’re rather unusual for an Atlean,” Haggar’s raspy voice sounded in her ears through the pain. “Most Atleans are capable of sort of magic, but not to the extent you’re capable….” Haggar paused, thinking for a moment, then saying, “You’ll make a wonderful test subject.” Allura’s eyes widened with terror as those words were said, but someone had finally noticed what was happening to the princess. 

In a flash, one of her teammates had hit Haggar with a flying kick, sending her backwards, straightening up to deal with the attacker. Allura tried to move to see who it was, but the thing attached to her would allow her to lay on the ground in one position, leaving her in a state of paralysis. From her viewpoint, though, she could see that Hunk and Pidge had arrived and were helping the Blades fight the Druids. She watched with satisfaction Hunk knock out one of the Druids, making the odds more in their favor. 

After a few minutes of fighting, the Paladins were able to disable the other Druid. Two figures appeared in her line of sight, running towards her; Hunk and Pidge appeared by her, trying to figure out how get rid of the thing attached to her neck. Hunk made a sound, unnerved by the sight of the thing, which had buried itself in her neck, causing the paralysis. Pidge finally got annoyed and said “Hunk, go help Lance. I don’t need you breaking my concentration.” 

Allura couldn’t see Hunk’s face, but she did hear him shuffle away, towards something behind her. Pidge was sitting in her front of her, with a calm face and firm voice, “I’m going to move on your stomach. I need to remove the thing from your neck. Blink once if you understand.”  
Allura blinked once, and Pidge moved her into position, with her cheek pressed against the cool ground. Ahead of her head, she could hear someone still fighting, probably Haggar. Allura did her best to calm herself, not wanting to cause more anxiety than she felt, with this strange thing attached to herself. 

Pidge, on the other hand, was completely levelheaded and was not afraid of gore, as it turned out. The thing had attached itself to the base of Allura’s neck and was buried somewhat in the skin. After a few minutes of examining, Pidge decided that the best way to get rid of this thing.  
“I’m going to cut out it from your skin, it might be painful,” Pidge told Allura, trying to sound calming. Pidge took out a small knife and went to work on the thing. Luckily, it came off pretty easily and did not seem to cause pain to Allura. 

 

While Pidge was helping Allura off the ground, Lance and Hunk were trying to figure out what to do with the herbs and other items laid out on the altar-table.  
“Do you know what this is?” Lance asked Hunk, holding up what looked to be a long root.  
“Nope, but if Haggar has it, then it probably is evil.”  
“Good point.”  
When the two boys began to move the items around in attempt to decide what to do with them, whether or not to bring with them back to the Castle, Haggar took notice and was not pleased. She stopped her fight with Keith long enough to a thread of purple lightning towards the altar-table, causing it to catch on fire and sending the two boys to backtrack away from it. 

Haggar started to move closer to the altar-table, jumping through the air and between the pillars, but was flung to the ground by Allura, who had rammed into Haggar’s side. Allura was about to strike the Space Witch with her staff but she evaded the attack and drew back, with purple fire beginning to build in her palms.  
“Always messing up my plans, you little brat,” Haggar sneered at her.

“It is my duty to do so!” Allura yelled as she charger towards Haggar. Allura began moving faster than she had ever remembered, hitting Haggar and moving before her counterattack came. She landed hits on the Witch’s back, stomach, and face, which caused her hood to be knocked off. 

Everything in the room seemed to stop once the hood had fallen; Lance and Hunk were still by the altar-table, holding the items from the table. Pidge and Motig stood by one of the columns of quintessence, while Keith and Korik seemed to stopped mid stride, appearing to running towards the fight. 

The ones who could move were Allura and Haggar, as Haggar moved towards the altar-table, while Allura tried to understand what was happening. She moved towards her teammates, Pidge and Motig the closest to her. Both stared back with empty eyes, unaware of the situation.  
“What did you do?!?” Allura shouted at her, looking at the rest of her team and starting to feel the fear build in her body. She could not lose anyone else in such a short time.  
“ I stopped time, of course. Now you and I are the only ones who can move.”  
“HOW?!? How is this possible?”  
“Magic, you stupid princess. You have been sheltered from it all your life, but it seems that you possess it.” 

Haggar then went back to continue her work, ignoring the princess questions and muttering to herself in another language. With a wave of her hand, she moved Lance and Hunk, sending them to the ground several yards. Allura flinched at the noise their bodies made as they made contact with the ground, but their faces were still empty as before. 

As Haggar continued to work, a wave of energy started to encapsulate the area around the altar-table, creating what appeared to be a powerful spell, the items and the surface of the altar-table beginning to glow with violet and white energy. 

When the wave was almost to the ceiling, Allura jumped into the small space and landed on the other side of the altar-table. Allura smiled at herself, pleased that she had made the jump and with renewed confidence attempted to touch of the herbs she recognized. When her hand came in reach of the herb, she was sent flying backwards, hitting the wave hard. She slumped to the ground, trying to get air back into her lungs, when she heard “You really thought I’d let mess up my plans? Pathetic.”

Haggar appeared above her with a cruel smile, having finished her work and decided it was time to play with the little princess.  
“You think you’ve won, don’t you? Admit it, I know you do.” Haggar leaned down and clasped Allura’s face in hand, with two long claws resting on her cheeks.  
“You think that just because Zarkon was injured, you saved the universe? That a bunch of weak rebels and small empires could really defeat one of the oldest and most powerful beings in the known universe? You’re more naive than I had previously thought. And now, you’re mine.”

Allura’s eyes widened at this, realizing the mistaken she had made. She thought they had been doing well on this mission, but of course, she poor leadership skills ended up costing her freedom. Haggar placed her other hand on Allura’s neck, replacing the previously thing and then dragging Allura by her hair towards the other side of the altar-table. As she moved across the floor, she was able to see her team and see their faces for what she thought was going to be the last time. She had truly grown to love them like a family, with all of their silly Earth antics. 

During the little downtime that they had, they would tell her stories and facts about Earth, with nostalgia in their eyes as they reminisced, even Keith would talk about the good times he had with Shiro in the Garrison. With all of their stories, Allura had begun to feel a connection to the planet and hoped that someday that she could visit it. But it was a pipe dream, and now, as she lay on the floor waiting for the torture to begin, she could feel all hope of that dream disappear.  
Her eyes sank to the floor, feeling numb, but she decided to look at the paladins one last time; Lance and Hunk were in her range of vision, lying on the floor a few feet away from the altar-table with expressions of surprise frozen on their faces. Pidge and Motig were not far from the two paladins, both looked like they were in the middle of discussing something as they hid behind a pillar of quintessence. 

Allura shifted positions on the floor, after finding that she could move a little, trying to find Keith and Korik. It took a tic for her to remember where she saw them last. She repositioned again, finding Korik with his blade changing mid form,light glittering around it. Allura stared at the blade for the moment, admiring the glittering sight, then refocusing and moving her eyes to where Keith was.  
Keith had moved.  
Baffled, Allura looked up to Haggar, who had noticed this new development and was still working, then shifted again while her mind was a mix of confusion and fear trying to understand how he could have moved. Allura began to search the chamber, looking for any reason for how the Red Paladin could have moved and for the Paladin himself.  
Haggar had apparently frozen time around them, but then another possibility popped into her mind; maybe because they both possessed magic, the time spell did not affect them. If this was true, Allura thought, that would mean that Keith also possessed magic, allowing him to move.  
While Allura was trying to come with an answer for this new mystery, Keith moved from pillar to pillar occasionally checking that Haggar had not seen him. When he saw that everyone else was frozen, he figured that it had something to do with his Blade, maybe that it was older and gave him some kind of immunity to magic. Keith did not dwell on these thoughts and continued to move closer to the altar-table, appearing behind one the pillars and was spotted by Allura.  
Keith held a finger up to his lips, signaling to stay quiet which Allura nodded to, then mouthed the words “How”. Keith shrugged, and disappeared once again. Allura rolled from her side to her back, deciding that distraction was the right course of action. 

“Haggar, where did you get those herbs?”  
Haggar merely glanced downwards, then resumed her work.  
“How did you get those herbs? I thought they only existed on Atlea.”  
No response.  
“Haggar, I will keep asking,” Allura persisted, raising her voice, “I have a right to know ! How they managed to survive the fall of Altea, which you had a hand in orchestrating. How could you betray your own kind?”  
At this, Haggar finally reacted, and turned to face Allura with speed that made her flinch.  
“You lecture to me about betraying one’s kind, when you work with the Blades? Ones of have betrayed their own kind? You have no right to chide me, child. You do not know the full truth.”  
“Then tell me! Though I am sure it is as deranged as everything you and Zarkon have done.”  
“Zarkon is not deranged, you brat! He will save the universe and bring peace once it is completely under his control.”  
“How can he bring peace to something that been destroyed?” Allura retorted, nager to starting to build in her chest, making her heart beat faster. She had forgotten about Keith and now was taking out her rage, something that had built in her after she had first awoken from her cryo sleep.  
“The Universe will have peace because Zarkon will have achieved his mission and he will rebuild all the lost civilizations in his image! Everyone will be better off with Zarkon as the leader and he will protect us against any threat.”  
Haggar seemed to be done talking, taking out a cloth from her sleeve and wrapping it around Allura’s mouth. Allura tried to move away from her, but was stopped when the thing was reattached to her neck, preventing her from shifting and moving. The Space Witch Leaned in close to her face, showing off all of her pointed teeth, “When I am down with you, you will understand everything, and will choose willingly the side of Zarkon.” 

Allura glared at her, knowing that she would never do such a thing, though the stare went unnoticed, Haggar turning her back to her and resuming the work she had started. Allura’s view was limited to the ceiling and pillars above, still paralyzed from the thing. Her mind thought back to Keith, wondering what happened to him since she saw him last, most likely several doboshes ago. 

Her mind began to wander, forgetting about the situation at hand, and how Keith would be her only hope of making this mission a success. She still had… mixed feeling about Keith, given the new information about his heritage and the fact that he had kept it a secret.  
Perhaps, she supposed, if he had told her and the team early, she would have felt less betrayed and misled, but she could not change the past and had to work with the current situation the team was in; no head and a possible backstab. 

Meanwhile, as Allura pondered, Keith was coming up with his own plan, stragestrizing the best way to take down Haggar on his own. He knew that he had the element of surprise on his side, but did not know how far he could use that to his advantage. He figured his way to win would be with Allura fighting too, but that raised even more problems as he didn’t know how to get her away from Haggar.

Not happy with any of his options, Keith chose to follow his gut; he climbed up one of the pillars of quintessence close to the altar-table and the wave of energy. Looking down, he could hear the two yelling at each other, then saw Haggar placing something on Allura’s neck, who stopped moving and remained still. Allura’s eyes were casted towards the ceiling, but Keith was not close enough for her to see him. Keith took out his Marmora Blade, shifting it to its other form while watching Haggar, who did not notice the new light from his blade. He placed the blade in the space between the metal panels above him, testing to stay that the blade would stay when he moved it. He reached up to it with both hands, shifting so his legs were against the pillar. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerve, he then swung his legs and hit them hard against the pillar of quintessence, which began to topple over into the next pillar. 

That pillar struck the wave of energy, startling both Haggar and Allura, Haggar moving closer to the altar-table in attempts to protect the herbs and other objects. The pillar that Keith hit broke when it smashed into the pillar in front of it, causing a flood of quintessence to pour onto the energy field, which started to fade because of the quintessence. Keith stayed on top of the pillar that he had hit, riding it down through a hole in the energy field and using his Blade to break up the energy field. He landed close to Allura and her up and placing her on his shoulder and back, while Haggar hissed at him and began to become bigger with purple energy.  
“How is this possible?!?” Haggar screeched as she charged forward, missing Keith and Allura as he jumped away from the altar-table. Keith ran toward the other pillars, using them as cover to evade Haggar’s attack. 

He placed Allura on the ground with care, looking at the thing attached once again to her neck. “This might hurt, but I have to do it,” he told her as he took out his Blade and began to remove the thing with it. It took a few tics, in which Allura did her best not to cry out in pain, knowing that Haggar would. When it was done, Keith helped her to her feet and gave look up and down to check that she was okay.  
“Do you think you can fight?” He asked, hoping that she would yes.  
Her eyes glimmered with determination, and she took out her staff and extended it.  
“Let’s end this,” she said, which made Keith grin as he followed her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might add more to this chapter later, it was intended to be longer, but I reached a point where I was satisfied with ending the chapter at a certain place.  
>    
> The title for this chapter comes the French word "dessein", which means intention or design. 
> 
> (Hmu if you know any good fanfics in French, I took four years of it in high school and want to do more with it.)
> 
> [my tumblr](http://tenorswift.tumblr.com/)


	3. ανάμεσα (anámesa)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fight continues, with Keith gaining a bit of upper hand against Haggar.

Working together, they were able to confuse Haggar, one popping out of the pillars while the other had their back. Keith was able to absorb Haggar’s attacks with his Blade, and Allura would use her own magic to bar the attacks. But Haggar eventually recognized this pattern and grew frustrated, sending out a large wave of energy that knocked both of them onto the ground.  
“You think you can stop me??!!?? Just the two of you?!?!”  
Neither answered, both panting from the fight and the new pain they felt from the wave.  
Haggar continued ranting, sending out random attacks all round the room, trying to hit them. Allura and Keith did their best to dodge the attacks, staying close to the walls to avoid the energy and the pillars of quintessence. They were no longer close to each other, something that neither of them noticed.  
“I have served Zarkon all of my life and I will not let a bunch of teenagers stop our goal. Do you hear me? You teenagers are laughable for thinking you could stop the most powerful empire in existence!! And how dare you question Zarkon, that what he is doing is not right for the universe. You have called him deranged, therefore you must be STOP!!!!” 

As the word ‘stop’ left Haggar’s mouth, she sent out a large wave of energy, causing many of the pillars to explode. Allura and Keith were split up, both dodging the spilled quintessence and broken glass. Unleashing her frustration, Haggar released a barrage of energy, causing more pillars to explode and landing a few hits on Allura and Keith as they tried to evade the attacks.  
Haggar stopped, chest visibly moving from panting and there were beads of sweat lining her forehead, some following the marks on her face, which was framed by frazzled hair. Haggar looked around the room, looking for the two; she knew she had hit at least one of them with her attacks, she had sent out some many that it would not be possible to miss all of them. As she looked around the room, she realized how much quintessence had split, much to her annoyance. She thought about the necessary clean up for it, then realized that it had another purpose, one that could end this fight.

“It does not matter how powerful you become, we will always have the upper hand. We have existed for thousands of years without end undeterred, and no one will ever change what we have accomplished.”  
Allura scowled at these comments, knowing in her heart that they were not true. She knew that Haggar was trying to bait her, wanted to use her fiery personality to find her and then attack. She would not let this happen, so she breathed through her nose as silently, as possible.  
Keith, on the other hand, was still panting from dodging the attack, loud enough that Allura could him even though she was at least several meters away. Allura tried to get Keith’s attention, but his eyes were closed and his hands were wrapped around his bayard in concentration.  
His breath had began to slow, as he calmed himself, but when he shuffled closer to the pillar of quintessence, his Blade scraped against the floor. Keith did not notice, but Allura’s eyes switched from Keith to Haggar, who heard the noise and began to smile viciously.  
With a snap of her fingers, all of the spilled quintessence began to move towards Haggar in a golden wave. Once it reached Haggar, it flowed around her, change color to deep amethyst and it seemed to reflect its own light.  
Then Haggar commenced a sort of dance; moving in fluid movements, sometimes changing directions and touching the quintessence with outstretched hands. When her hands met with the quintessence, it darkened and copied her movements as the dance went on.  
Both Allura and Keith were mesmerized by the dance, peering out slowly from their hiding spots to see the flowing quintessence better. 

As the quintessence continued to come towards Haggar, the “spell” on the other Paladins and Blades melted away from them and they were left in a trance, eyes fixed on Haggar and the quintessence. None of them had realized time had passed, nor did they remember what they had been doing beforehand.  
Allura’s thought were difficult to process, her mind kept going back to some mission, but she could not find the details of the mission, just knew that whatever was happening in front of her was powerful.  
Keith was the most aware of what was taking place in front of him, knew that it was dangerous and that he needed to do something, but his body was, it seemed, disconnected from his mind. 

While the others were no longer under the previous spell, they were still fully aware what was happening before; all of them still stood in the same, while Haggar was starting to focus her willpower on Allura.  
The spell that Haggar was “casting” was doing exactly what she wanted it to do: bring the bratty Princess to her. Allura walked slowly across the chamber toward the altar-table, eyes glazed over and dim from the spell.  
As the Princess edged closer to the center of the room, Keith started to feel panic build up inside of him. Shit, he thought to himself, looking around the room, only moving his eyes and finding that the others had changed positions but stood completely still. Keith did not have idea what was happening but knew that it could not be good.  
His panic about the situation made him start thinking about what Shiro had told him about the Space Witch, about how she had taken his arm and replaced it with the robotic one, about how she was the one that created beasts to kill them. But as he thought about the fight on Arus, and how they won because of Shiro, he felt his stubbornness overcoming his panic.  
Which was just what his Blade need to sense in him to change; the insignia on the Blade began to glow like it did during the trial, changing its shape from the short form to long form. The change in weight was enough to reconnect his body with his mind, feeling his limbs again, as if they had all fall asleep. Still behind the pillar, Keith began to strategize, deciding that he needed a large distraction, hopefully one that would awaken the others.

Keith began patting his armor, trying to find something useful; he vaguely remembered Coran giving them a lesson about the armor, how it could during certain situations but he did not remember anything about the armor coming with explosives. Just when he thought he would have to make another plan, his gauntlet opened and revealed six small sticks that he assumed were like C-4. Silently thanking the suit, Keith shifted and ran along the outermost set of pillars, setting the C-4 sticks on a pillar. 

Haggar had not noticed the movement from Keith and was still working on capturing the Princess, whose body and face were attempting to resist Haggar’s spell. 

Allura’s stubbornness was clear on her face, her jaw was tight and her eyes blazed with tenacity; but her body was not controlled by her stubbornness and continued to move across the large chamber to Haggar. 

Keith had just finished setting up the explosives when Allura was about a meter away from capture. Keith scrambled, trying to figure out to trigger the explosives, pressing stuff on his gauntlets, when he finally found the right one, but it had to be primed for it to work. 

“C’mon, c’mon,” Keith said to the air, hoping that this shitty plan would work.  
It took 44 ticks for the explosives to be primed, something that Keith decided he would ask Coran about if they survived.  
BOOM!

“YEAH!” Keith cried. The explosives did their job, blowing up the pillars around the room, awakening his friends. Everyone had dazed looks on their faces but figured out what was happening quickly. They all started moving at the same time towards Keith, the first person they saw and the one with the explosives. Everyone except for Allura.  
The Princess was still under the control of the Space Witch, as the explosion had disrupted her concentration on the others but not Allura. 

Keith was the only one that had realized that Allura was still under the spell, as the others did not know better and the rest of the team hardly realized that something was going with Allura. Keith charged towards Allura, not really thinking, just knew that he had to get her away from the Space Witch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Complete Chapter!
> 
> Sorry I didn't finish this chapter sooner, my family and I evacuate because of Hurricane Irma and then my dog suddenly died. But I'm excite to keep writing and I'm happy that October is here.
> 
> The title of this chapter is a Greek word which means "in between". This chapter is in between because I wanted to be longer, but decided that having another chapter would be better. (I still might combine chapters, but for now it will be two chapters.)
> 
> [my tumblr](http://tenorswift.tumblr.com/)


	4. Inesperado

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fight comes to a close and revelations are made about the paladins of Voltron.

The rest of the team did pick up on this, and followed Keith, Lance and Hunk firing at Haggar to lessen her concentration, Pidge and the Blades acting as backup for Keith. 

As he ran, Haggar shot orbs of purple energy towards the Paladins and the Blades, some which land on a body, but not for Keith. He was too fast and too determined to be taken out that quickly. He dodges all the attacks sent his way and reached Allura before everyone else.  
Keith grabbed her by the shoulders, dragging her to the ground and towards a pillar.  
“Allura!” He shouted. He didn’t really know what he was suppose to say. Wake up? Snap out of it? He knew that she had been trying, but it turned out that he did not need to say anything else, as the movement from Keith had awakened her, just like it had worked for him and the others.  
On the ground, she began move into a sitting position and clutched at her forehead, due to the fact she now had a major migraine. 

“Give me a few ticks, please,” she said, halting the words already on Keith’s lips.  
“I don’t think we that much time!”  
Keith once again grabbed Allura and pulled her back as the pillar they were just behind exploding with energy. Both were now on the ground, dazed from the explosion, as Haggar finally saw them and began to beam with malice. 

“Silly children, you cannot beat us!!!”  
With that, she began a fury of attacks, one hitting Allura in the shoulder and another hitting Keith in the upper back. Keith had stood up to avoid the attacks, but stopped suddenly when he realized Allura was not doing the same.

“I don’t think I have enough energy to keep this up,” she said, her eyes filled with fatigue.  
Keith leaned down towards her and with the most gentle hand, lifted her to her feet.  
“That’s okay, that’s why we’re a team.”

Allura stood with her mouth open, not entirely sure what had just happened; Keith, on the other hand, looked past her, towards their other teammates, signaling them to make an exit. 

Pidge and Korik, who then passed the message onto the other three. 

“Alright, let’s do this,” Keith said, wrapping Allura’s arm around his neck and placing his arm on her midriff.  
“Thank you, Keith.”  
“Not a problem, let’s move.”

Though Keith had strategized beforehand, he was still impulsive and decided to immediately rush towards the entrance/exit of the chamber. While Keith had been helping Allura and notifying the team of the plan, Haggar had begun gathering energy to make one last attack to defeat the princess. If she was not able to capture the princess, then the princess was die there, giving Haggar the opportunity to take her body for experimentation.

Haggar was not picky, as long as she got what she wanted in the end. She, still in the process of building up energy, also made herself invisible, ensuring that her plan would happen correctly and preventing anyone from hearing. The Princess might be able to sense her energy, but due to her injuries, it would not make a difference. Only someone with magic would be able to sense her while she was disguised. 

The rest of the team also began to head towards the door, the Blades going first while the paladins stayed back to keep an eye on Allura and Keith. 

“Don’t you think we should help Keith with carrying Allura? They’re still in the middle of the chamber,” Hunk asked, glancing at Lance and Pidge.  
“You’re right, Hunk! Let’s go help the Princess!” With almost comically motions, Lance spun on his heel and started going in the opposite direction. Pidge and Hunk both exchanged looks, then followed suit. 

 

They were about half away to Allura and Keith when it happened. The pair only had thirty meters left when it happened. When Haggar released the energy she had built up and attacked the pair. Both fell to the ground, bodies paralyzed with the energy and eyes open with fear. Or at least that Haggar wanted to happen instead. Truth be told, she was not sure what happened, nor were the other paladins.  
What really happened involved Keith sensing Haggar’s attack even before it had left her fingers. For him, everything began to slow down as he saw the attack coming toward him and Allura. In the moment, he made up his mind and threw Allura towards the other paladins, keeping from being hurt anymore. Something, somewhere in the back of his mind, tells him how to counter the attack hurtling toward him; the voice tells him to use luxite Blade. 

His gut tells him to trust the voice, so he then grabbed his Blade and took a stance to face the energy attack coming from Haggar.  
Jumping into the air, he sliced the energy in half which dissipated into the air. Keith landed facing Haggar, a smirk on his face as The Space Witch stood dumbfounded. This is unexpected, Haggar thought to herself. Nothing like this had ever occurred to her knowledge, she did not know of many persons that were that powerful to deflect an attack like that. This Red Paladin was worth her attention now, she decided. She did not really pay attention to the paladins, as they were replaceable and were nothing without Voltron.  
Keith turned and started running toward the other paladins, ready to be done with this mission, though Haggar had other thoughts. This one might be on par with the bratty princess, Haggar thought. She would have two test subjects instead of one, making this visit extremely beneficial for Zarkon and herself. 

Haggar jumped into the air, floating above the Red Paladin as she shot black lightning into him; the princess could wait, as this paladin did not even know how powerful he was, unless he was acting dumb. Keith had tried to deflect the attack like beforehand, still gripping the Blade, but it didn't work the second time as Haggar was expecting it.  
Keith sinks to the ground, body not obeying him due to the lightning coursing through mind and body; it excites every nerve and cell to the point of pain and Keith is now hyper aware of everything happening around, can hear every crackle of the lightning around him as it bounces around his eardrums and crashes into all his thoughts of pain. 

While paralyzed from the lightning, Keith begins to feel something in his stomach, his gut instinct that had appeared in the desert and moments before. 

But this time, it was different, it feels bigger somehow and the more Haggar strikes him with lightning, the bigger it gets. In a burst of light, the lightning in his body is propelled out of him, creating a dome of lightning around him that collides with Haggar, hurling her back into a pillar.  
Sitting up, Haggar begins to growl low in her throat, frustrated with the state of her plans. Looking at the Red Paladin, how he looks slightly unsettled by what just happened, she knows that he is unaware of the power he possess. She rises from the ground, plans forming in her mind of what to do with the paladin and how to take him down. She decides to do something that she has not done in a long time; usually, all her victims are slayed by her lightning, but this paladin is worth the extra work.

A violet blaze spawned from dark magic and black arts.

The Space Witch draws closer to the Red Paladin, who begins to back away from her, but it is pointless, she can follow him wherever he goes and wherever he hides. Lightning springs from her fingertips like once before, but this time it will be different. The lightning surrounds the paladin, who begins to panic in fear of the lightning, swatting at the lightning with that luxite Blade. Finally, there is enough lightning for her satisfaction, with the paladin stuck in a sphere of lightning away from the rest of his team. 

Haggar chants quickly, wanting the fire now, the lightning sparking with itself to create fire.

When the violet blaze begins to appear where the lightning was, Keith becomes confused and starts looking for a low point in the fire. He knows this can’t be anything good given the fact that this is the work of Haggar. But, being stubborn as he, he looks for low points and even tries rushing through the fire. When he tries to rush through it, he hits a barrier and is thrown back into the circle of heat and smoke. Hissing from his new burns, he pulls out his bayard, in attempts to see if he could do what he did with the lightning and slice through it, but it only results in more burns. 

 

And then the fire converged on him completely engulfing him and erasing him from the sight of his teammates. All the air was sucked from his lungs, thus he was unable to scream due to the pain. The armor on his suit was fireproof, but the rest was not and began to burn away. His skin was like wax on a candle, dripping down to the ground then catching fire. His bones are fire inside his body and he can feel fire getting closer and closer to the bone. 

Allura let out a loud cry, while Pidge sunk to her knees, covering her mouth in disbelief. Hunk remained still as stone, unsure of how to react, because this was Keith - cool, mysterious Keith who was strong and invincible. It was Lance, eyes burning with a cold fire, who acted; he rushed towards the Space Witch, firing with incredible accuracy at her and getting closer to the inferno in which his friend was. 

 

Haggar becomes distracted from the Red Paladin, but recovers and begins to start firing at the Blue one. Lance dodges most of the attacks and the ones that hit don’t stop him from his destination: Keith. When he gets close enough to the mass in the fire that is his friend, he feels a thrum run through his body and the presence of Blue brushing against his mind. The thrum continues as he runs closer and once he reaches circle around Keith, Blue flashes an image of ice encasing the circle.

How? Lance asks. The gun the lion replies. Lance looks down and sees that his gun has changed, it is smaller and more compact and the muzzle of the gun is now much larger. It kinda reminds Lance of the garden hose nozzle he would use to water plants in his mom’s garden.  
Lance holds the gun/garden nozzle up towards the purple fire and pulls the trigger, not sure what to expect. At first there’s nothing, which makes Lance start to panic, moving to the side to evade an attack from Haggar. But as he continues to hold the trigger down, he sees water pulled out of the air in a show of light, which is then gathered in a small reservoir in the grip. 

Oh, he thinks, realizing that the gun needed to be primed before it would shoot. Stepping out from one of the pillars, Lance pulls the trigger again and this time, ice begins to come out of the nozzle. Lance dashes forward, hoping to freeze as much of the fire as possible. 

As he runs forward, Haggar fires at him, but then someone else fire back her. Hunk! Lance realizes. I have such a great team, Lance thinks to himself, noticing that the rest of the team has begun attacking Haggar and covering him and Keith.  
Lance moves around the entire circle, making sure that all of the fire is out before he approaches Keith, who a pile of burns on the ground. Lance has to stop himself from gagging from the burnt smell of everything, and quickly puts his helmet on full face mode to filter the air.  
Lance reaches down to gentle touch Keith on his shoulder, in attempts to get a response from him. 

“Keith, buddy, are you conscious?”  
When he gets no reply, Lance shifts him on his back and takes off his helmet; placing the helmet just above Keith’s mouth, Lance is able to see the heat from Keith’s breath fog up the glass of the helmet. Breathing- check, now to the heart; leaning down, Lance does his best to listen to Keith’s through the armor, it’s weak but rapid.

He’s probably in shock from the burns, Lance thinks to himself. Lance knew enough about medicine to know that shock requires immediate attention--- Which means Keith needs to get out of here. Formulating a plan in his head, Lance calls out to the team via the comms. 

“Coran, Keith is seriously injured, like he might die, can you have a pod ready for when we get there?”  
“On it, Lance!”

Growing up, Lance had a lot of experience with first aid stuff, but this was beyond him; sure, he could probably treat a small second degree burn, but not something as intense and extensive as this. So, Lance decided that getting Keith medical care as soon as possible as the best course of action. 

“Guys, let’s get out of here!”  
“Yeah, Haggar’s giving us a hard time!” Pidge said, with Hunk grunting in agreement  
“Alright, head towards the exit.”  
“Roger.”

That’s when the adrenaline started to kick in for Lance; most of the time during missions, he had a lot of focus, but right then, he could feel the adrenaline sharpen his senses and make him feel untouchable. Lifting up Keith would normally have been a problem, as Keith weighted about the same as Lance and he was no bodybuilder, he could probably only hold him for a few minutes at best; but with the kick of adrenaline, Lance barely registered the weight of his friend in his arms and started running full speed towards the exit. 

But, of course, Haggar had a different plan, high in the air and swiping around a pillar, hurtling a mass of lightning right towards Keith. The lightning seemed to have landed on the one visible patch of unburned skin on Keith, just below the edge of his helmet and above the burnt seams of the black undersuit.

It was just like in an old video game Lance had played, where if the character, who had an odd name, was struck by lightning, the character would drop whatever was on him; that was what happened when the lightning struck, though Keith did not even register anything had happened.  
Lance yelled in pain, the lightning having dissipated into him also, burning his hands. Anger boiling up inside of him, he turned around and started firing at Haggar, hitting her three out of five times. When she fell after the barrage of attacks, Lance had already primed the ice nozzle, firing at her to freeze in her tracks. He knew that it would not hold her for long, she would definitely be able to get out of it, but it bought Lance and Keith time to get away and for the team to catch up with them. 

“Let’s get out of here!” He yelled, looking back at the team and Haggar frozen to the ground. Hunk was helping Allura run, steadying her when she would lose her balance though she appeared to be doing better. Pidge had stopped to gather some quintessence, taking out a small tube and sticking it in one of the pools.  
“Pidge! C’mere! We have to go!”  
“I’m coming!”  
“Hunk, cover Pidge,” Lance said, turning towards him.  
“Right.”

Pidge was able to collect some quintessence without too much trouble, though the team could hear Haggar yelling, presumably as she started to melt the ice. Finally, the team was able to leave the chamber, and was now heading towards the Green Lion and the other pod.

“Why don’t we just have the Green Lion open up a hole and go that way?” Hunk asked, wanting to leave as soon as possible.  
“We can’t, Keith’s helmet is busted up and his suit has burns in it, if he went into space, he would die right then and there,” Lance said.  
“Okay, definitely don’t want to do that.”  
As they moved away from the chamber, they could hear explosions coming from that direction, which prompted Pidge to look back to see what was happening.

“Pidge, stay focused, we can’t worry about her right now, we have to get Keith to safety,” Lance stated, positioned in the back of the group.  
Pidge nodded, turning forward and running ahead of the rest of the team to ready the Green Lion. When they reached the hangar, they found the two Blades, waiting by their pod. 

Lance felt anger simmering inside of him, but stifled it, now was not the time to yell at them, that would be for another time. He did, however, shoot them both a look laced with poison and rancor.

 

Pidge was already in the Green Lion when they reached the hangar, and once everyone was in the proper place, the paladins and Allura in the Green Lion and the Blades in the pod, they went into space, everyone holding their breath as they waited for eventually attack from the Galra. But none came, so Pidge turning on the cloaking mechanism on the Green Lion, while the Blades went in the opposite direction. It had been agreed upon that if this mission had any problems, the two groups would meet up later to discuss their next plans. 

When they were far enough from the Galra ship for comfort, the team’s attention was placed on Keith, seeing how he was doing and how badly injured he was. When Lance removed his marred helmet, Allura let out an audible gasp, Hunk made a sound like a whimper, and Pidge turned around what the noises were for, and then let out a cry. 

Keith had burns on his cheeks, lips, and eyelids; some parts of his hair had been burned away and he no longer had eyebrows. His ears and the hair around his crown were relatively fine, saved from the fire by the helmet. That’s good, Lance thought, hoping this meant that he did have any brain damage from the inferno.

But then, as Lance continued his “exam” of Keith, he noticed the spot where Haggar had last hit with lightning, and saw that that part of his neck, there was a large black-violet burn, different from the rest of the burns on Keith’s body.

When Lance started to poke at it, Keith’s eyes and mouth opened wide, a cry coming out as he started to feel the pain of all the burns.  
“Keith! You’re gonna be okay!” Lance started shaking his breastplate to get his attention, wanting to ask him more questions to make sure he was okay. Keith’s eyes were wild, pupils large and wide, and the look in those eyes told that the owner did not know what was happening.

Keith mumbled something that Lance didn’t hear, so Lance leaned in closer so he could hear better.  
“What did you say ?”  
“It’s finally happening.”  
Lance straightened up so he could at Keith, uncertainty in his eyes as he questioned those words.  
“What do you mean?” 

Keith repeated what he said, or rather mouthed, as noise came out of his mouth. He gave no further explanation before slipping into unconsciousness again. Lance felt his skin and blood run cold, going to the worst possibility to the meaning of those words: death. 

“Pidge! What’s our ETA?”  
“A couple minutes.”  
“You need to floor it, I don’t think Keith is going to last much longer.”  
“R-right,” Pidge said, seeming to get choked up on tears before pushing the Green Lion as fastest as it could go.

“Hang on, buddy, we’re almost there.” Lance reached down and gave Keith’s hand a squeeze. 

He received no reply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in time for Keith's birthday!!! YAY!!! I'll probably post something else today, this is going up at 1:30am right now. Thanks for all the nice comments, it's really encouraged me to publish more and going forward, I WILL have a schedule for posting.
> 
> The chapter title means "unexpected" in Spanish.
> 
> [my tumblr](http://tenorswift.tumblr.com/)


	5. EPICINIUM

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team deals with the aftermath of the mission. Lance makes a discovery and everyone is tired.

When they reached the Castle, Lance immediately came out of the Green Lion, carrying Keith bridal style and was the first one that Coran saw.  
Coran’s face dimmed when he saw Keith, and then the rest of the team, wanting to go over to Allura and make sure she was safe and uninjured but Coran refocused on Keith and took up the rear as he and Lance pushed the hovering body towards the med bay.

The rest of paladins and Allura stayed back, waiting for the Blades to return from their debriefing. Everyone was quiet, unsure of what to do or say. They stood there for a few ticks, then Allura made the decision (she was supposed to be a leader, after all).

“Let’s go to the kitchen… and find something to eat.”  
Hunk and Pidge murmured their agreements, none of them even bothering to change out of their armor, which clung to their bodies in places due to sweat, blood, and probably quintessence. 

Hunk and Pidge both slumped into their seats, tiredness apparent in their bodies, both slouching and using the table to hold themselves up. The shock of the battle and the emotional weight seemed to be catching up to them, Allura guessed, as she went about getting the food ready. She normally would not have done this, someone would have done it for her, but with the expressions on everyone’s face, she decided to take charge.  
I must be strong for the team, Allura thought to herself. She placed the bowls of food goo in front of the two paladins, who murmured their thanks and picked up the spoons. Pidge looked into the food goo, like it held answers to all the problems in the universe and she was the only one to decipher them. Hunk, on the other hand, just stirred the food goo absentmindedly, lost in thought in a different way; his brow was scrunched up and his mouth was turned down in a frown.

Allure decided that neither of them would want to hold a conversation, and if she was being honest with her, she did not to also. Her mind was a swirling mess of thoughts, about Haggar and Zarkon, about the disappearance of Shiro and the response of the Black Lion, but most importantly, the matter at hand - Keith. 

Ever since it was found out that Keith possessed Galra blood, Allura had an internal conflict about how to approach him and the situation. She had reacted rather poorly in her eyes and also Coran’s, who had a long discussion with her about it before they had gone into battle. How could the Blades and Keith be expect to work with someone who held prejudices against simple for their biology only, nothing else. She knew in her heart that it was wrong, but after everything she had gone through because of the actions of the Galra, she thought she had many reasons to not trust them.  
Zarkon had been one of her father’s closest friends and had betrayed him, though Allura now knew the circumstances and reasons for the betrayal. They were not valid reasons for this betrayal, but she could sympathise with Zarkon for wanting to save his wife. 

Still, Zarkon’s mind was gone by the time he had made that decision and thus that made him an unjust leader, unfit to govern his people, which now included most of the universe.  
So now she was faced with a question-- how to conduct herself around those who, specifically Keith, shared the same biology, mindset, combat skills, as the one who betrayed her father and her species, when she already knew him and his personality. With the Blades, she could remain cold and direct with them, and feel nothing about it; her relationship with them would be strictly professional and diplomatic.  
But with Keith, she had already learned about him and the rest of paladins, seen his quirks and his determination, and observed his abilities as a paladin, as a defender of the universe. 

Would she really let something as trivial as biology prevent her from treating Keith like the other paladins?  
No, she would not, she had already decided this, but never had the chance to talk to Keith about it; she and Coran had discussed the matter ad nauseum, however, when she had the courage to bring up the subject to Keith, he always disappeared, or made an excuse for something else, Hunk needs my help, Pidge needs my help with something, or something similar.  
Allura had, eventually, realized that Keith was avoided her, most likely thought she was preparing to kick him off the team due to the Galra blood in his veins. After the way she had reacted, Allura could not blame him. 

But now, Keith’s life might be coming to end, and she could not sit with the idea of him dying still thinking that she did not want him on the team because of his blood and his line; she needed to make things right.  
And with that, Allura begin to scheme a plan to ensure that he would know, even if he died. 

It could be possible for Coran to do the same for which he had done for her father: create a place for his memories to stored. With that, she would be able to save Keith, in some way, maybe have his conscientious stored in a device that could move, like a temporary body.  
This could work, she thought to herself. She was starting to think that this idea could potentially be the best option for them, giving the condition of Keith’s body.

“Princess, how ya doing?”  
Allura blinked, realizing that she had been staring at the table and that her eyes had unfocused due to thought. She looked up to see the concerned faces of Hunk and Pidge.

“I’m fine, just tired, that’s all,” she replied, waving a hand.  
“Are you thinking about Keith?” Pidge asked, leaning so her head down and her glasses were at the edge of her nose, a peculiar look on her face.  
“Yes,” she said as she leaned back into the chair, placing a hand on her cheek, “I am not sure what to do. We’ve all already lost so much, with Shiro, and now possibly Keith, I just don’t how to go about this.”

She sighed, then pinched the bridge of her nose, uncertainty pooling in her stomach and her chest. 

“Hey, Allura, it’s gonna be okay,” Hunk shifted so his arm was on the table and reached across to give her hand a reassuring squeeze.  
“Whatever happens, we can get through this together.”  
Pidge nodded in agreement, eyes shining bright, while Hunk’s eyes were filled with compassion for her situation.  
Allura faked a smile, thinking about how they did not know truly the cracks that had formed in Team Voltron, even before Shiro disappeared. There had been times where she and Shiro had disagreements on actions of the team, but they had always achieved a compromise.

Except for The Blade of Marmora. They might be different from the Empire, but they were still Galra and for that, Allura was still wary of them, even with their assistance on missions.

After Shiro and Keith visited the base and learned of Keith’s… bloodline, as it were, Shiro later came to her to discuss her reactions to both Keith and the Blades, in attempts to reason with her about the benefits.  
Allura replayed the conversation in her head, not for any particular reason  
“Princess, don’t you think you reacted a little harsh towards Keith? I understand that the Blades are not as trustworthy, but really, towards Keith? He didn’t even know until now!”  
Allura’s back was turned toward Shiro, her eyes looking down into the vastness of space, trying to think of the words to say.  
“Shiro, you have to understand, the Galra took everything, everything I know and love, away from me. My father was betrayed by Zarkon and it might have been thousands of years ago, but it does not seem that long ago for me. For me, everything keeps replaying in my mind, Altea falling and my father leaving me.”  
Shiro softened his face and moved towards her, coming besides her so that she could him.  
“I know, I’m not asking you to forgive the Galra for everything that has happened, I just want you to treat Keith like a member of the team. If you want to treat the Blades like that, harsh and cold, and indifferent, that’s fine, they probably don’t care. But with Keith, Keith cares, he doesn’t say it often, but the team is important to him.”  
Allura looked at Shiro’s face, searching his eyes, then let out a long sigh.  
“I will do my best from now to treat like I have been before, but I make no promises about the Blades.”  
Shiro’s face lit up with his smile, his eyes squinting and bright.  
“Thank you, Princess.”

Since that conversation, she had just mostly ignored Keith, but with the disappearance of Shiro, it meant that became more involved in missions and spent more time with him and everyone else. 

Spending time with the paladins had made her realize something about her and Coran- they did not truly know the paladins. They had just showed after she had awaken, and now they were fighting to save the universe. But she did not know how little she knew them or how much they knew about her. She knew basic facts- Lance has a big family and flirts a lot, Hunk like food, Pidge likes technology, and Keith is a loner; but these are just surface level facts about them. What were their childhoods like? Why did they all join this thing called the Garrison? What was Earth like for them? 

The more she thought about it, the more she realize she, in some way, had forced them in a fight that was not theirs. True, they went along with it, but what was in it for them? They had been taken away from the families, a planet that was not even affected by the Empire, and now they were involved in something that was greater than them, something they did not truly understand. 

Allura abruptly stood, startling both Pidge and Hunk, who both looked at her puzzled. It had only been a minute or so ago that they were reassuring her. 

“I’m going to check on Keith, see if there’s any progress. But, after that, I want all of us to have a team meeting.”  
Pidge’s face grew somber, while Hunk nodded, focusing on the meeting part.  
“Hunk, will you prepare something nice?”  
“Of course, Princess.”  
“Thank you.”

 

Lance was definitely in over his head, treating Keith and trying to help Coran. Sure, he had some basic medical knowledge, but nothing about burns or anything as severe as this. 

Coran worked in silence, his jolly demeanor gone, only speaking to ask Lance to turn that, grab this, hold that, etc.  
The burns that covered Keith’s body were various shades of violets and purples, with spots of pink and red from his blood and skin. The first thing that they had to do was get him out of the trashed paladin suit. Coran had placed a halo on his head, something that would ease the pain until they could get him the correct medicine and keep him unconscious.

Even though Lance knew the halo was there, he still tried his best to be gentle when he would pull the fabric, in attempts to cut it away from his body to remove it. Underneath the fabric, Keith’s skin was not as badly burned, however, there were still bruises and areas where blood had pooled, around his ribs and his stomach.Coran’s face darkened even more when he was the blood that pooled under his skin, potentially a sign of internal bleeding or at least that’s what Lance thought when he saw it. 

“We need to debride any foreign material in his burns, it will be unpleasant for him, btu we have to do it,” Coran told him, moving away from the bed and leaving Lance with Keith. Looking down at Keith’s face, he was not sure if it was right to think that he looked more dead than asleep. Keith had always been pale, but now, it looked like there was no blood flowing through him, though Lance knew that was not right, he had been there and Keith had lost some blood, but he was burned not stabbed.

So why was he so pale, pale enough for his lips to look white? Leaning down, Lance pressed his ear to his chest, listening for his heartbeat. It was there, slightly faint but still there. Moving closer to his face, he could hear Keith’s breaths, Coran had put him on a breathing machine- “To ensure he does not lose oxygen” Coran had told him. Would it make a difference? Lance really didn’t know.  
Still, something unsettled Lance with how Keith was looking. Maybe he would ask Coran when he was done prepping. 

Lance reached down and took ahold of Keith’s hand, giving it a squeeze, more to reassure himself that Keith would be okay than to comfort Keith.  
Coran came back with a new tray and stand and a package of some kind that looked like it was in plastic. 

“What’s that?”  
“This is a special healing pod suit that can form itself around the patient, so we do not have to maneuver him into it like we usually do.”  
“Wow, that’s smart.”  
“Yes, though we still have to get rid of anything in his burns and wrap them with bandages and salve. Let’s get started, then.”  
“Where should I start?” Lance asked, picking up the tweezers Coran gave him. This was going to take a while.  
“I’ll start down here, and you start up by his head, and we’ll meet in the middle.”

Lance nodded, then stared down at Keith, not sure what to do. Lance stood there for a second, when Coran finally looked and notice Lance’s puzzlement.

“Here, I’ll show so you know what to do. C’mon, over here.”  
Lance hurried over, looking down at Keith’s foot.  
“So what we want to do is to get rid of any foreign material, but also remove any skin that is coming away on its own, so the new skin is showing. It will fresh and pink, don’t worry if it starts to bleed.”

Coran showed him the technique, taking the tweezers and another thing, gliding them both under the dead skin and pulling it away from Keith’s body. The dead skin came off with a problem, Keith was not aware of anything that was happening.

“If you find anything in the burns, like piece of the paladin suit, or dirt, just clean it up with a little disinfect after you remove the material. We don’t any infections. Got it?”

Lance nodded again, then moved back to Keith’s head. He started with his cheeks, then his forehead, and then his neck. There was not much to the debriding, just a few piece of glasses in his forehead, but nothing in the cheeks or neck.

“Make sure that you move him around so you get all the area!”  
Damn, I forgot to the back of his head and neck, Lance thought to himself.  
“Coran, is it okay if we move on his side or stomach, I need to get to the back of his head.”  
“Not a problem! I can get the back of his legs that way.”

Together, they moved Keith onto his side, both placing one hand on him so he would not fall back or forward. The back of Keith’s head had a lot more of everything - burnt hair, skin, pieces of the paladin suit, and even some glass. How the glass and paladin suit ended up on his head, Lance was not sure. He trimmed the burnt hair and did his best to remove everything in the burns.  
Moving down to the back of his neck, Lance found less here, just more hair and skin. He placed his hand on the base of Keith’s neck, and used his thumb to pull some of the skin away. 

That was when he notice something else under Keith’s skin, something deeper than just the burnt skin, something solid. Lance pressed his index and thumb against it, trying to figure out what it was. It did not feel big, maybe the size of a penny or a dime. Looking up, Lance saw that there was a scalpel on the table of tools Coran had placed him. He grabbed the scalpel and started to make a small cut, trying to get the thing of Keith’s neck.  
After a minute or two of working it out, Lance was finally able to get the thing out, It was a smooth, purple jewel that sparkled in the right, though that might have been from the blood. 

“Coran, I think I foun-”  
“How is Keith doing?”

Lance looked up and realized that Allura had come into the room, followed by Hunk and Pidge. 

“Princess!” Coran said, straightening up and fixing his coat/shirt thing (Lance did not know what it was called).  
“How’s he’s holding up?” Pidge asked, coming over to stand by Lance near Keith’s head.  
“Coran’s got him on some pain meds, I think, we’re cleaning the burns right now.”

Hunk stood still in the doorway, staring at the ground and not wanting to look at Keith. Lance moved away from Keith and gave Hunk a big hug. Hunk hugged back hard, almost painful but Lance knew he need this. Pidge also joined in, shoving themselves between the two of them. 

“He’s gonna be okay, Hunk,” Lance reassured him and Pidge. “Corans and I are taking good care of him, and there’s nothing that the healing pods can’t handle!”

“Actually,” Coran interrupted, “That’s not entirely true. You see,-”  
“Coran,” Allura stopped him mid sentence and gave him a look, one that said not to say anything more, filled with concern.  
“Right, we won’t get to that right now,” Coran said. 

“So Keith is doing well, I take it?” Allura asked, turning to look at Keith and all his burns.  
“He’s doing as well as he can be, Princess. Lance and I are working to clean his burns, then he’ll go into the healing pod.”  
“How long do you think it will take for him to be completely healed?”  
“Maybe a week or more, probably less,” Coran said stroking his mustache. 

“Alright, then I will find a safe place for all of us to rest while Keith heals.”  
With that, Allura turned and left, presumably going to the bridge to move the Castle, talk of a meeting forgotten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter means "aftermath" in Latin.
> 
> Sorry for being inactive for a couple months, the holidays were a mess, but I trying to write more and I plan to update more often.
> 
>  [my tumblr](http://tenorswift.tumblr.com/)


	6. 不自然な (Fushizen'na)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith continues to heal while Lance makes a decision about the stone. Allura questions what will happen to the team, and becomes frustrated with the Blades.

Allura took them to a lush planet, one far from the reaches of the Galra and without any intelligent races present. How long they would be there, Allura was not sure, but had found a deep cavern to keep any passing ships from finding them. They did not need to get into a fight with a paladin missing and another out of commission.

The first few days on the planet were uneventful; no one trained and everyone rested, the stress and tiredness finally catching up to them.  
On the fourth day on this lush planet, it began to rain, just like the rain on Earth, or at least that was what the paladins had told Allura and Coran. Allura decided that maybe a little outing in the rain would not hurt anybody, and fresh air would be good for everyone.

It was an interesting experience to say the least, for the Atleans and the mice; They had never seen anything like it, water falling from the sky, but the sun was still shining. Lance told they that this sometime happened on Earth, that it would rain water while the sun was still out and everyone found it to be a magical time, though most of the time, when it rained on Earth there were dark clouds and people were not as happy.

Allura could understand the logic of this, not enjoying bad weather that brings gloominess to people. Somewhere in her heart, she hoped that the rain in the sunlight was a sign, a sign that Keith would be healed and would return to his duties as Paladin. Though, Allura was not going to hold her breath, she knew that it would take a great deal on their part and Keith’s for him to recover from his severe injuries.

 

Coran had updated her that seventy-five percent of his skin had been burned and that he and Lance had been tending to his needs. Allura was hoping the universe would take some pity on them, after everything that they had gone through, but she could feel that this would not happen.

Lance had become used to being in the medical bay; the lights, the shine off the tables and equipment, and the strange smell of Atlean disinfectant. One thing he would not get used to was seeing Keith wrapped in bandages, in a healing that was meant to open periodically. Coran had told him that with the burns that Keith had, the healing pods could heal them, but they would be ugly scars and were more likely to have problems later on. So, everyday they changed his bandages, reapplying a salve to all of his burns which also gave them the opportunity to see the new skin coming in.  
After their adventure in the rain, Lance had finally decided it was time to show Coran the thing that he pulled from Keith’s neck. The more he thought about it, the more it … unsettled him. Where did it come from? Why was it there? Was this something common among the Galra, to have strange stones in their necks?

If anyone would know, it would be Coran, or at least that’s what Lance thought. He had waited long enough and finally reached a point where it was eating up him inside.

As they were finishing up cleaning and bandaging the wounds, Lance took the purple gemstone out of his pocket and crossed the room to where Coran was. Coran was busy tidying up the materials, putting things away and rearranging. Lance stood there for a moment, waiting for him to notice, when he cleared his thought to get his attention.

“Ah! Yes, is something you wanted to talk about, Lance?”

“Yeah. Umm, during the first night, when we’re getting rid of stuff in Keith’s wounds, I found something. Something weird, in his neck.”

Coran’s interest piqued at that and he turned to face Lance, a look of worry starting to form on his face with his mustache becoming straighter and his furrowing brow.

“Weird, you say? In what way was it weird?”  
“Well, I found it sort of buried in his neck, I could feel it under the skin and it was close to his hairline. I used some tweezers to pull it out, I still have it if you want to see.”  
“Yes! Of course, show to me.”

Coran waited as Lance took out the purple gemstone, leaning forward so he could see it when Lance had it out of his pocket. Lance held out his hand, palm flat to show the shape of it. “Do you know what it is?” Lance had hope in Coran and was sure that he would know what it was.  
Coran picked it up, bringing it closer to his eyes to examine it.  
Lance could feel his hope rising inside of him, that this mystery would be solved by the ship’s top alien culture expert.

“I haven’t the slightest idea what it is,” Coran said with a straight face.  
“Oh,” Lance said, feeling himself deflate, which he might have over exaggerated for comedic effect, his shoulders slumping down and his face falling.

“But, that does not mean I can’t find out what it is!”  
Coran straightened up and zoomed across the room to the table with a magnifying lamp attached to it. Sitting down, he began to examine the stone, with the magnifying lamp, then what looked like a jeweler’s glass, which Lance thought was a little overkill but whatever. If Coran could figure out what this was with both things, so be it. Lance hovered behind Coran, trying to look through the glass and see anything that might be important.

For several minutes, Coran would say “Mhmm” to himself, which prompted Lance to try to find what caused his reaction. Coran then took out various tools, measuring the stone, hitting with a hammer-like thing, and sending a beam of light through it, creating an array of black and yellow light.

“Alrighty, I’m going to start with what I definitely know about this. One: it is definitely Galra related and is probably from the Empire. And…. Two: I think it might possess some magical light. That’s it.”  
“Well, that’s not very helpful. We still don’t know why it was in Keith’s neck or how it got there,” Lance said as he crossed his arms, slightly frustrated by Coran’s response and the situation.

“I know, it’s not much but I’m afraid I’m not expert on magical stones, though I will have Pidge look into it.”  
At the mention of Pidge, Lance’s face dropped suddenly, puzzling Coran.

“Why the face, my boy?”  
“I just don’t know if … I’m comfortable with letting the others know about this. It’s just I don’t know how to describe it but I have a bad feeling about this, and I don’t the others to know yet.”

This was partially the truth, but there was another feeling that Lance had inside him, that this stone was also related to why Keith’s lips were so pale. Lance did not, in that moment, trust the rest of the team with this; maybe he was being selfish, wanting to keep this thing about Keith a secret between him and Coran, but he had a feeling they would react badly.

Coran pursed his lips, swiveling in his chair back towards the stone and the table, lost in thought. Lance shifted his weight uncomfortably, unsure of what Coran thought of him, wanting to keep the stone a secret between them.  
When Coran swiveled back to face Lance, his eyes were bright and a smile changed his face into a more youthful one.

“My boy, I have an idea! We can still have the others investigate it, we will just say that it was something you picked up before Haggar appeared.”  
“So we have to lie?” Lance didn’t like that idea, though who was he to not want to lie to the team, but at the same time did not trust them even tell them about the stone. Either way, he would be lying to their faces.

Keith’s more important right now, Lance thought to himself.

“Actually,” Lance sighed, “that’s better because they at least know about the stone, they won’t know about its exact origins.”  
Coran became more serious after Lance said that, knew that he felt conflicted about the situation; Coran stood up and placed a hand on Lance’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

“I know you’re worried, about the stone and the team, and Keith, but I promise everything is going to work out. You’ll see.”  
“Thanks, Coran,” Lance sighed again and left, heading to his room ready for the embrace of his bed.

 

“What do you mean, you cannot come to debrief us?” Allura said, crossing her arms and frustration visibly in the rest of her body. Her conversation with the Blades had not been going well; apparently, there was some other mission happening now that required Kolivan and the two Blades that they had with them on the Haggar mission.

“I am sorry, Princess Allura, but currently, Leader Kolivan is not available and will not be available for several quintants. I will let him know immediately when he returns, and it is possible to relay a message to him at the moment. But other than that, there is not much I can do for you, princess.”

Allura sighed, tiredness apparent in her shoulders. She would have to make do with what was available, she supposed to herself.  
“Alright, let him know that I wish to speak to him urgently, the Red Paladin is currently out of commission due to severe injuries, and we may need the Blade’s help with treating him.”

The Blade she was talking to, Gridnek,at least that’s she thought was their name, had a change in demeanor when hearing about the Red Paladin. Gridnek’s serious posture diminished, shoulders relaxing and head leaning forward in sympathy.  
“That is… unfortunate. I shall let Leader Kolivan know immediately. May the Red Paladin recover quickly.”

And with that, the conversation was over. Allura sighed again, pondering about what she should do next. The team could go without debriefing, they had other things to worry about, but with Keith’s condition, the team might need to consider other options.

Some much had happened. Shiro was nowhere to be found, and Keith’s chances of survival were slim, never mind the idea of him piloting the Red Lion again. Voltron had not appeared in some time, and Allura feared that Zarkon and the rest of the Empire might have taken notice.  
Finding that there was not much she do at the moment, much to her agitation, Allura decided to pay a visit to Keith. Coran had updated them on his status, but she wanted to see with her own eyes how he was fairing.

What Allura found in the med bay took her breath away; she knew he was in bad shape, but this was not at all what she anticipated. For one thing, she did not know that the healing pods could change positions, she only ever saw them in an upright position. But there was Keith, laying on his back, in the healing pod and surrounded by clear, unmoving liquid with tiny bubbles. There were bandages all around his body, the pod suit beneath barely visible.

The lights of med bay, the other pods lined in a circle, created a strange glow around Keith’s visible skin; as Allura came closer to the pod hovering above the ground, she saw that his already pale skin had no color to it.

She placed her hand on the glass above his mouth and face, the lights of her suit adding to the glow around him. Allura felt sorrow begin to feel her chest, making her stomach feeling like there was a rock in it, as she saw the burns around his mouth.

“I… don’t know if you can hear me, but I am deeply regretful how I have treated you. I let my own prejudices affect how I treated you, and that is not something that a princess should do.”

She moved her hand lower, so she could see the entirety of his face.

“Please come back to us, so I can make it up to you.”

In that moment, Allura felt the need to kneel and pray; she had never been religious because of her parents, but at that moment, it seemed appropriate. To who she would be praying to, she did not know. The Gods of the Altean people were probably dead with their people, or never exist, evident in the Fall. Though it felt silly and childish to be on her knee, she see could Keith’s face better at this angle and was grateful for the closeness. Allura cupped her hands together, and began to pray.

“Please heal Keith and bring him back to us, whoever is out there, if you’re listening.”

She could feel hope in her chest, at the idea of Keith being well again, for his sake and her own, when she started to feel something else. Something that felt like her magic moving in her chest as well. Focusing more on this magic, Allura tried to bring it out, to see it in existence; she moved her hands forward, away from her chest, attempting to pull the magic out with her hands. It worked and appeared before her, in the cup of her hands, a soft pink-white glow that illuminated her face. Now there was the question of what to do with the magic; she was not sure given the circumstances, but thought maybe this little of magic can help Keith.

Shuffling closer to the pod, Allura pushed the little ball of magic into the pod, into Keith, and hoped for the best. Allura stood up to watch as the magic entered him, lightened up his features and skin. Allura waited breathlessly, to see what would happen to Keith, but after waiting for several moments, nothing did. Crestfallen, Allura placed her hands on the glass of the pod, said her goodbyes to Keith and left.

(Though if she had stayed longer, or even come back to check on him, she would have seen his skin change from its lifeless color to a lilac, though this did not last. She would have also seen his eyes open, looking up to the ceiling but not seeing anything around him, his pupils small pinpricks in expanse of deep violets and grays. It seemed that the magic had awakened him, but only for a moment, and this would not be something that he would remember.)

 

When Coran had brought the small stone to her and Hunk, Pidge was fairly confident in their abilities to find out what it was. This proved to be not as easy as they thought. The stone appeared simple but tests showed it was releasing a strange energy only detectable through a rather obscure and complex test.

Pidge had fixed her glasses, excited at the challenge present before; it had been awhile since something this complicated had been presented before her and she knew she could crack the mystery of the stone. Hunk was also intrigued, the fact that it had been left by Haggar and had strange energy, but also had some concerns for the same reasons that the stone was interesting. He had a bad feeling about the stone, that it was some kind of magic from a Druid, and given the few stories he had heard from Keith and Allura about fighting Druids, it did not reassure him that they should be messing with it. Pidge saw the reason in his concerns, but figured if the stone could give them an advantage against Haggar, then it would be worth some work.

“UGH. We’re not getting anywhere with this thing. I don’t think the Castle has anymore tests that we could run on this stupid thing,” Pidge looked at the stone like it had personally insulted her mother.

“Maybe instead of running a test, we need to research it,” Hunk said, leaning far back in his chair to look in Pidge’s direction. Hunk had switched from messing with the stone to trinkering with something else, somewhere old piece of Atlean technology that had been left by Coran. He won’t miss it, Hunk thought.

“Alright, well that might get us somewhere. At least then we could get an idea of what it does, maybe that would lead to what it’s made of.”

“It’s worth a shot,” Hunk agreed, getting up to look at the stone.  
“Maybe we could write a program that searches through all of the Empire’s files and the Castle’s files,” Hunk continued, picking up the stone.

“Yeah, that wouldn’t be a bad idea. Let technology do the work for us,” Pidge smiled up at him.  
“Though, I feel like there are a few more tests that I want to do on it. Maybe we could chip off a piece to dissolve it in a solution,” Pidge said, taking the stone from him and placing it next to some tools.

“If you think that would be worth it, then go for it. I’ll start working on that program.”  
“Alright, see you in a bit,” Pidge called as Hunk left the room, waving in acknowledgement.

Back to you, she thought looking at the stone. She found various tools laying around, a saw to cut off a piece, something similar to a diamond to test the hardness, and some kind of acid to dissolve the stone.

“Let’s do this!” Pidge said to herself and to the room.

She started with the hardness test, as it would be the one that required the least amount of prepwork. She took the slate, one that she had found, and scrapped the stone against, looking for any marks on the stone or the slate. The slate had several gray marks on it, while the stone looked the same as before, purple and polished.

“Well, that did nothing,” Pidge sighed. It made sense that the stone would be hard than the slate, lots of things were, but maybe she need to another one, with a different slate.

Digging around in the workroom, Pidge found a variety of things, old technology, pieces of armour, limbs of the Gladiators, and finally another slate, a clear one edged with teal. Hoping that it was something similar to a diamond and had more strength, Pidge once again scrapped the purple gemstone across the slate.

This time, though, the slate that was made from diamonds, was left with long white streaks across its previous perfect complexion. Pidge stared, mouth agape at the streaks, then look at the gemstone to see if there were many marks on it. The gemstone stared back at her, bored with the whole thing.

“Harder than a diamond, the hardest substance in the universe,” Pidge said to herself.  
“If it is that hard, then I might not be able to cut off a piece.”  
Pidge pondered about what to do, she knew that there were saws that could cut diamonds on Earth, but if this stone was harder than a diamond, than would the saw or a laser work on it?

“Maybe it’s time for some Altean tech,” Pidge smiled to herself, and began rummaging through the workroom again, looking this time for a laser. Maybe she could overwhelm the structure so much that it would break. It took a bit of searching, partially from the fact that the workroom was always a mess, and also the fact that Pidge was being particularly picky about the lazer. It had to be just right for this to work, to reach an intensity that would distribute the structure of the gemstone, but not completely destroy it.

Once she had the laser and had everything in place- the stone in a holder to keep it in place, the laser at a safe distance, and of course eye protection in case things went amiss- she began the experiment and charged up the laser.

With a wicked grin, Pidge charged up the laser, making a distinct humming noise then vibrating with energy. Making the laser would hit the gemstone, Pidge pushed the lever of the laser, the beam of it a thin line that crossed the room to the purple stone. The bluish beam of the laser illuminated the room, creating odd shadows and the light streaming into the gemstone was refracted back out in rays of white.

Pidge turned up the power on the laser, wanting to see what would happen and also wanting to accomplish her goal. The beam of the laser grew from the width of a pencil to the width of Pidge’s wrist, but the gemstone continue to refract the light, again seeming bored by the whole thing.

This will do it, Pidge thought to herself, once again turning the power higher on the laser.  
The laser began to hum loudly, vibrations going through the table, making some of the lighter items shake. Before refocusing the laser on the gem, Pidge grabbed the pair of goggles and slipped them on, too excited to remember them the first time.

Goggles on, she moved the laser again, pointing to the center of the gem. As the energy coursed through the gem, the gem began to hum and vibrate like the laser. With the beam the thickness of a fat sharpie pen, she increased it again, this time to its max and created a beam that was the thickness of Hunk’s forearm. The table began to shake, papers moving across it and to the floor, the walls buzzing with energy as well.

With a cry that pierced all the noise in the room, the gem finally broke in a flash of light, fragments of it flung around the room. The fragments dinged around the high ceiling room, hitting Pidge and forcing her under the table.

When she did not hear anymore dings from the gem fragments, she peered over the table and the laser which stopped once it had nothing to focus on. In the holder remained one large chunk of the gem, which had lost its deep purple color, the middle part of it clear while the purple faded away.

She picked it up, and examined it, wondering what could have caused that.

 

Unknown to her, when the gem broke, Keith jumped in his cryopod, eyes opened and staring at the ceiling. He breathed raggedly, and it was not long before Coran appeared, hearing the monitors blaring at him, thinking that something had happened to Keith.

Coran was surprised at Keith’s wide awake appearance with blank, dead eyes but Coran knew it was too early for him to come out.

With sleeping medicine placed in the cryopod, Coran left Keith in the pod, pausing before leaving, puzzled and shaken by what had happened.

 

Far away in another corner of the universe, a man jumped awake, in a similar manner to Keith, gray-violet eyes open in the same way. With this suddenly awakening in the middle of the night, he knew nothing good was happening. He would fix this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, this chapter was fun to write and I really enjoyed it. 
> 
> The title of this chapter means "incongruous" in Japanese. 
> 
> I'm not sure when the next chapter will be published, but probably not more than a month. I would like to update every or every two weeks, but with college and other stuff, that might not happen. 
> 
> (ALSO SEASON 5 WAS SO GOOD, I'M SO HAPPY. Expect to see stuff with Keith and his mom, I love her so much.)
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> [my tumblr](http://tenorswift.tumblr.com/)


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